‘The White Pantheon can never again be allowed to meddle within the internal politics of Kirinyaa, the precedent set, the loss of territory with the Jungle and the loss of life with the invasion, framed under the guise of Peacekeeping, has shown the stance of Deities in regards to humanity. The Country Of Mortals Act is not designed to punish Goddess Kassandora, nor to tear down God’s Arascus influence, it is written to make sure that Deities can still interact with our political sphere, but that never again will they be able to over-rule us as has been done before.’
Mwai Ruku stared at the speech. This bill was necessary, and it was designed to do exactly what he said it would not. Kassandora lead the war well, no one could deny that, but Arascus himself was the issue. How he had done it, Mwai did not even know. Day-by-day, he could not point to a single thing that had changed, but he compared his influence now to the influence of a year ago. Ministers would be asked for opinions and they would earnestly and honestly say they needed an opinion from Helenna or Arascus.
Now he looked at the green armbands supporting the Reclamation War and he saw them not as signs of Kirinyaa, but as a show of support for Arascus. Now, he saw the mistake with the Kirinyaa Army Implementation Bill, Kassandora had been permanently ingrained into their politics. The panic of the Jungle had rushed it through, Kassandora’s own speech had infatuated even him.
And in that mad fervour, it had passed. No discussion necessary. No eyeing over the details. No combing for mistakes. Nothing. The Army Implementation Bill had come in. And it had passed. And it carried Mwai’s own stamp of office on it.
And what now? Her position had no clauses on it. What was even the method of succession? Was it hereditary? Was it until she died? Until she stepped down and appointed a man to dance on her own strings? There was no way to vote her out, the only thing that could most likely do it was a call to action from the public, but who would stand against the Goddess who saved Kirinyaa not once but twice? Even if she did step down, what difference would it make? Was there a single man who served in that Army who was not fanatical to her? In the span of a mere year, she had caused a spill that would take generations to clean up.
He got a new piece of paper and started to re-draft the speech. This one was too aggressive, it wasn’t only a case of fooling the population. He had to make sure Arascus was comfortable enough to smell the poison in the meat he was being given. How did they let a deity just ingratiate themselves in Kirinyaa’s affairs this much? Mwai stopped, sighed, looked at the half-drank bottle of rum by his paper and pushed it away. He had drank enough over these past few months already, Goddess Helenna had made sure of that with all her gifts.
Mwai turned and looked out the window. It had been easy. They needed men, Arascus said he would rally men. They needed ammunition. Helenna and Arascus organized the companies. They needed artillery. Ausa would step in, at Arascus’ behest. They needed battleplans, Arascus said not to worry and that Kassandora would lead the war.
They had won the war, and the Divines won it for them. The crisis had reared its ugly head at tiny little irrelevant Kirinyaa. Then Helenna had supplied the metal, Arascus forged it into a blade, Kassandora struck the beast down. And now tiny little Kirinyaa had to take a step by itself.
He looked at the KAF taking off against the bright blue sky from one of Nanbasa’s airports. Painted in black and red and gold. There had been a joke before, KAF, officially Kirinyaa’s Air Force was actually Kassandora’s Air Force. It had been funny because of the fact the actual meaning of the acronym was never once mentioned in the document that brought about its existence. Now Kassandora’s Air Force wasn’t so funny.
They were going to the celebration at Central Requisitions. KTV was being brought in to take interviews on what would be done now. EIE was going to be there too. Most of the ministers from parliament as well. The survivors of Melukal all had been given first-class tickets. Helenna would hold interviews. The soldiers would be recorded and turned from mere heroes into legends. Arascus and Kassandora would both be holding speeches.
He had not been invited.
Arascus found Helenna as she was working, planning out the organisation of the celebrations. Iniri was close by, Fer had returned to keep watch over Elassa. She would, unfortunately for her, have to stay there until Anassa returned. Then Elassa could be taken on walks to get some fresh air. Kassandora was on the other side of CR, practicing marching with her troops. “We’re going for some twenty thousand attendants.” Arascus said as he walked past rows of tables, they were all Iniri’s work, pulled out from the wood that plastered the ground as if they were inside a giant hall and not the light blue sky.
Bulldozers had come in quickly, they were here three hours after the battle ended. Helenna was to thank for that. The bosses of over a dozen construction firms had fallen her. Trucks were starting to arrive with food too. Fresh meats and cold deserts. Helenna did that too, although the local towns were more than happy to provide some produce for the saviours of Kirinyaa. Even a few private planes were coming in, loaded with alcohols and expensive gifts. Those would be given out to the soldiers and the people who were evacuated from the north. Again, it was Helenna’s work. “Twenty thousand can be done.” Helenna said as she looked over the tables with a proud smile.
“Realistically, I want space for twenty-five thousand. We might have some people who just turn up.” Arascus said. “At the back preferably, out of camera view.”
“Can be done.” Helenna said, Arascus looked down at her. They were both wearing HAUPT uniforms, as almost always. Black boots, black coats, belts with their own insignias. Helenna had a dagger strapped to her leg, Arascus a sword sheathed. Helenna was feeling good too, her hair was a vivid, almost golden orange today. “But keep them empty at first, then if someone comes send them food. To not make it look like we’re wasting food.”
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“I didn’t think of that, good idea.” Arascus said, Helenna’s hair flared red for a moment, and then settled back to orange, slightly brighter than before.
“Thanks.” She said.
They walked a few more steps when a soldier in a green shirt approached the two of them. Dark, a native Kirinyaan, in a green shirt and shorts. He saluted. Arascus dismissed him with his own salute. “It’s for Goddess Helenna. We’re running out of storage space.”
“What for?” Helenna asked gently. Her hair did not change. The man scratched his head and thought for a moment.
“Everything really.” Arascus didn’t even know why the man had come, the issue was simple.
“Go to Kassandora, tell her this is my order. Use the armouries as storage for a while. Dry goods can be kept outside, the freezer trucks.” He turned to Helenna. “They won’t mind if we borrow them for a day?” Helenna smiled up devilishly at him.
“They won’t.”
“Find them a parking spot. If things get even more urgent, then get Iniri to pull up warehouses.” The man nodded with every word, then saluted and left.
“That was easy.” Helenna said.
“It usually is.” Arascus replied as they kept on the walk. The fortress behind them was starting to flower again, Arascus had plans to turn it into a national heritage site soon. Something to remind Kirinyaa of how intertwined with divinity it actually was. “I owe you an apology.” He didn’t, but he knew that Allasaria would have never apologized to her, she considered it humbling. Arascus though? People simply did not understand that Pride was a mountain taller than any dark clouds.
“You do?” Helenna said out loud in shock. She actually missed a step and stumbled. Arascus caught her arm before she fell over and lifted her back onto her feet.
“Apologies for the war effort, you ran our logistics singlehandedly.” Helenna did not, Kavaa was the main distributor throughout the war, and Arascus matched Helenna in the amount of supply batches they sent to Kavaa. “And apologies for what I’m about to say Helenna.”
“Oh?” She cooed, hair turning red again.
“We have trouble on the home front.” At first, he thought Helenna would prefer the roundabout method, but after seeing her in meetings, he realised she preferred when things were laid out bare before her. “With the Country of Mortals Act.”
“I actually was going to talk to you about this.” Helenna said. “I can block it anytime.” Arascus shook his head.
“I want it passed.” And Helenna stopped, she looked up at Arascus, hair turning bright green: confusion.
“Excuse me?”
“I want it passed.” Arascus repeated gently. “I want the Country of Mortals Act to go through.” He turned around, took a step, and Helenna took three quick ones to catch up.
“I…” She said. “Well, it’ll actually be harder to make it pass than not, it’s not popular.” Arascus nodded, he had thought it would be.
“Can you do it?”
“Of course I can!” Helenna half-shouted.
“Then please do.”
“Well I will.” Helenna said. “But why?” Arascus smiled to himself. Explanations where always good, explanations reframed and rephrased and recalculated thoughts. An explanation was as good as a statistic, twice as good as a lie.
“Because we want to win.” Arascus said, he looked the tables. Fer would be inside, Iniri was far away, unless Anassa stepped into existence besides him, the conversation would not be overheard. “Helenna, proud Goddess of Love.” She blushed at the title, hair turned redder than before. “I could give you a speech right now, I could tell you all about the grandiosities of what a good rulership looks like, all of it.”
Helenna gazed up at him and nodded. “But I think both of us have lived long enough to know, haven’t we?” She nodded even more frantically at that. “Then there is no point no point wasting time on speeches we’ve both heard before. Helenna, I want to win, you’re not family in the way Kassandora is, but you’re not a mere subordinate either.”
And the Goddess beamed at that. “I’m not?”
“If you were, you’d get this in writing and not words.” Arascus said. “I make no promises, no grandiose statements or even acknowledge your glory because there is no need to. All I can say is that this is not the White Pantheon.” Honestly, he had to thank Allasaria. She had practically forced these three into his hands. “If you want to leave, then you’re always free to.” She wouldn’t, there was no chance of that. “But this is the same deal Kassandora and Fer got. Neither of them care for palaces and servants because they both know a word gets them both.” That much was true, Anassa had needed to be bribed at first to even give them a chance. Arascus sometimes wondered if she still remembered that. Most likely she did, it was Anassa. “I don’t take vows or codes of honour. I simply ask.” He put his hand forwards. “Helenna, will you the conquer the world with us?”
A Fortia or a Maisara, a woman who did not care for glory like Elassa would need to be bought, or have the good explained to them. But he had seen Helenna work, and Helenna wasn’t like that. She was cold and bitter, she hated her gifts, she gave them away to the poor and forcefully feigned smiles when she received them. So Helenna simply got the deal. The promise of conquering the world, and all that came with it. The greatest of them all, but one Arascus knew she wouldn’t call in.
And Helenna looked at his outstretched hand.
And she took it, she didn’t even think about it. She simply took his hand. Arascus sighed and started to walk off with her. “Allasaria’s greatest issue was that she did not want the position.” Arascus began as he looked at the trucks in the distance. More cargo for tonight, the festivities would probably stretch on until tomorrow. “You can see it in the rulership, the various Decrees to limit Divine power. She wasn’t stupid, she knew Divines in charge of nations would lead to conflict, so they were conglomerated in the Divine Pantheon and kept close.”
“She said that too.” Helenna said.
“There is one option she didn’t consider though.” Arascus said. “And she is correct, it is the future of Arda, because if it’s not, then Divinity will destroy this world.”
“Not decentralization, the opposite. We centralize the world around us. One Arda, One world. Not looking here, not there.” He pointed to random spots in the landscape, the jungle past the fields of ash and the mountains, the ones closest had been slowly crumbling through the entire day. One of them was having another landslide. “But up there.” He pointed to the sky. This is why the Country of Mortals Act has to pass, because if it does, the people will clamour for Kassandora.”
“Will they?” Helenna asked.
“Can you make them clamour?”
“Of course I…” Helenna stopped her words. She looked up at Arascus, those eyes hardened. Her hair turned a deep dark red. She spoke again. “I will.” He looked down at her with pride. This was another Malam. Maybe even better than the Goddess of Hatred herself. Malam had always said Helenna would be easy to convince, he had simply thought they didn’t need her back then.
“And we will give them a Divine.” Arascus said proudly. He turned and took a step, her hand in his. “Come, we have speeches to discuss.”
There were speeches, and there was there was one letter to send. But that letter, no one but him would know about.